THE THRILL OF VICTORY, AND THE AGONY OF ABC;
DW DESERVES BETTER
I’m afraid we got a taste of things to come with ABC’s
broadcast of the Cracker Barrel 500. As is usual with network broadcasts, the
local affiliate has pretty much the final say.
Viewers in Nashville got to see Dale Earnhardt and Bobby
Labonte cross the finish line side by side, and then were cut away to a
commercial and then to a Ronald McDonald telethon.
The first half hour of calls to the telethon were not from
people pledging money to this worthy charity, but from people asking who won.
Needless to say, we also didn’t get to watch the IROC race
from Daytona.
The local affiliate admitted their mistake, and broadcast
the final lap and the winners circle interview on their 10:00 p.m. sports
broadcast Monday night, a 30-some hours after the fact. They did pledge to not
make this mistake again, and I guess we’ll get a chance to find out with the
DieHard 500 next month.
As I wrote about earlier, this is one of the problems
we’ll have to contend with next year when Fox and NBC get a hold of NASCAR
broadcasts. Time constraints, not understanding the viewer, all contribute to
the disrespect that the local affiliates show to the NASCAR fan.
But if the racing doesn’t get better, and the ratings
continue to drop off, the NASCAR fan won’t be in much of a position to complain
when the local station decides to broadcast 3 hours of infomercials instead of
racing.
DW DESERVES BETTER
There’s a fellow on another website (I won’t bother you
with the URL so as to keep from wasting your time) who’s a spotter on a Winston
Cup team. His latest "article" is about how Darrell Waltrip is
stealing starting spots from other, presumably more deserving, Winston Cup teams
by taking the Past Champions Provisional and then just going out and turning
laps. His point is that Johnny Benson should have been in the race and not
Darrell Waltrip. Hogwash.
I’d like to see him write an article about how a certain
Winston Cup team owner is the only one to have wins in the Busch Series this
year (well, technically he doesn’t own the Daytona winner, but he might as
well). You could certainly say that those guys are stealing starting spots from
Busch Series regulars. But I doubt that will happen. He knows what side his
bread is buttered on, and he’s not about to write something criticizing the
fellow who signs his checks.
While we’re talking about this car owner, I wonder if this
spotter/writer will write something about teams that walk all over NASCAR’s rule
of only two cars per owner? When one owner has 3 or 5 teams, in complete
disregard for the rules, that’s certainly stealing spots away. If we’re going to
complain about something, why not that? Oops again. Can’t write anything about
that; our paymaster is guilty of that too.
I wrote a few weeks ago about the conflicts
of interest in racing. This is certainly one of them. He criticizes a
competitor for NASCAR’s rule, while his own boss flaunts a two-car team rule and
every week three other drivers lose out because of it. Benson could just as
easily have started in one of those three spots as he could have in the 43rd
spot. But maybe he’s under orders from his boss to trash Waltrip. I’m not sure
what the deal is, but it stinks.
It burns me up every time I see someone say "Darrell
Waltrip TOOK another provisional." NASCAR writes the rules, not the
drivers. Waltrip is eligible for the past champion’s provisional. When he’s the
only driver eligible, then he gets the spot, per NASCAR rules. It’s not like
Waltrip is lobbying for the starting spot. NASCAR has already decimated the past
champions provisional from what it was when they set it up for Richard Petty.
If you want to hear crying, just wait until Dale
Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, or Dale Jarrett misses a race because the past champions
provisional has been done away with. You’ll see NASCAR do the quickest 180
you’ve ever seen to get it back on the books.
Waltrip has done more for this sport than probably anyone,
including Petty. If anyone deserves a spot, he does.